thanks for all of the posts, everything is going pretty well.. there is a local aquarist that has a lot of equipment, I was able to get a Aqua-C remora skimmer and a refugium from him and I've been keeping the canister really clean, I suppose that I'll just be removing the media and placing a scoop of carbon in every once in a while.

I had thought about getting a longnose hawkfish... but i figured that he would probably nip at my inverts.